Club news

Where did the summer go? Here we are, September already, the days are getting shorter, many birds have already gone south and more are getting ready to go, but the Ottawa Duck Club never rests.

The summer box checks have been concluded (see below for details) and now it’s time to get ready for fall and winter. With that in mind, President Bill Bower is planning some meetings (all dates and locations are tentative):

•  Tuesday 27 Sept. 2011 (7 PM) – General Meeting at DND Connaught Range (Location to be determined)
• Friday 7 Oct 2011 (10 AM) – Duck Nesting Box Construction Day at Connaught Range (Woodworking Shop)
• Tuesday 6 Dec. 2011 (7 PM) – General Meeting at DND Connaught Range (Location to be determined)

We have to have our one-day event to build wood duck nesting boxes early this year because the Ministry of Natural Resources has changed the rules and now we have to have our project completed and the paperwork in by the end of October and not the end of December, as in the past. We have our CFWIP grant approved for this year in the amount of $500 and plan to build another 25 to 30 boxes. Last fall we used the Range Control woodworking shop and hope to do the same this year. On the plus side we should then have our $500 back from the government and in the bank by the end of December.

 Spring and Summer 2011

Two of the raccoons that were snuggling to keep warm in our shed in March. (Photo by Mario Poirier)

In March we disturbed four young raccoons keeping each other warm. By mid-April the great blue herons and great horned owls were back at Heron Pond; purple martins had returned to the condos at Boegel Pond; a hooded merganser had begun laying eggs in one of the duck boxes and tree swallows and black ducks were also around.

And later, “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind…” It huffed and it puffed and it blew down the plastic shed we were given last year, and scattered its contents.

Little piggies (and raccoons) would not be safe from the big bad wolf in this shed. (Photo by Al Beaulieu)

It looked like a lost cause, but the gang got together and just like an old-fashioned barn-raising—but not really like that—rebuilt it.

Tom, Vince, Bill, Richard, Gina and Al perform the Ottawa Duck Cult spring roof raising ceremony. (Photo by Churchy)

On May 27, Austin Taverner, Mario Poirier and Churchy had some memorable encounters while doing the rounds of duck box checks. First, they inadvertently flushed an American bittern, then another, and then a third, this one so close Austin was able to find its nest, a slight depression in the long grass containing a single brown egg. Then, in several of the nest boxes, they found duck eggs that had small holes in them, made by the chicks as they prepared to hatch.

Two ducklings get ready for their great leap downward. (Photo by Mario Poirier)

Finally, as they approached a box on the Dike Pond, the wood duck hen swimming nearby began performing her distress routine to draw them away. On opening the box, they found a fuzzy mass of ducklings trying to climb out. They quickly closed the box and moved a short distance away to watch as 16 ducklings jumped out and joined their mother who the led them across the pond to safety.

In early June Bill reported an interesting sighting of a female Blanding’s turtle at the intersection of Perimeter Road and Innis Point Road. What made it interesting was that he had found the same female 48 hours earlier at the same location. “In that time she hadn’t gone anywhere. We didn’t see any others and no sign of any nesting yet.”

On June 10^th, a few snapping turtles, purple gallinules, and a family of hooded mergansers with eight ducklings were seen around the sanctuary. A week later DND held its annual sports day at the range, including a nature walk with about 48 walkers coming to visit us. Other than mosquito bites most made out okay. Tom Irwin and Austin walked over from the HQ building with the group. Seven Duck Club members went back over for the BBQ at 12:30 and pronounced it delicious.

Bill says, “that evening during our nature walk (drive) we located some Snowy Lady’s-Slippers along Perimeter Road. It’s the first time I’ve seen them at the sanctuary.” And over at the Dike Pond, Mario became the first to see the black billed cuckoo we had been hearing for about six weeks.

Summer 2011 Duck Nesting Results

With duck nesting finished, our Wildlife Director, Austin Taverner, sent this report on our nest box checks:

The summer of 2011 was a good year for percentage of eggs hatched (WD and HM combined = 676 laid and 456 hatched for 67% hatched). The stats for 2011 and the previous eight years, for the 61 boxes we check each year, are as follows. (The * indicates black bear predation.)

Wood ducks:

• 2011 = 377 laid and 265 hatched (71%)
• 2010 = 411 laid and 174 hatched (42%)
• 2009 = 472 laid and 226 hatched (48%)
• 2008 = 484 laid and 264 hatched (55%)
• 2007 = 477 laid and 311 hatched (65%)
• 2006 = 462 laid and 192 hatched (42%) *
• 2005 = 446 laid and 140 hatched (31%) *
• 2004 = 578 laid and 254 hatched (44%)
• 2003 = 544 laid and 290 hatched (53%)
• Nine year totals: 4,251 laid and 2,116 hatched;
• Nine year average: 472 laid and 235 hatched (50% hatched)

Hooded mergansers:

• 2011 = 299 laid and 191 hatched (64%)
• 2010 = 268 laid and 91 hatched (34%)
• 2009 = 273 laid and 155 hatched (57%)
• 2008 = 181 laid and 127 hatched (70%)
• 2007 = 156 laid and 100 hatched (64%)
• 2006 = 123 laid and 57 hatched (46%) *
• 2005 = 142 laid and 73 hatched (51%) *
• 2004 = 108 laid and 72 hatched (66%)
• 2003 = 90 laid and 61 hatched (68%)
• Nine year totals = 1640 laid and 927 hatched
• Nine year average = 182 laid and 103 hatched (57% hatched)

2011 notes:

1. There has been a noticeable drop in the number of WD eggs laid in 2010 and 2011, compared to years 2003-09 (2011 counts were the lowest in the nine-year period). There was also a noticeable drop in 2005 from the previous two years, so I don’t know if this is following a cycle or if it will continue down.
2. The percentage of WD eggs hatched in 2011 was excellent (71%).
3. There has been a steady increase in the number of HM eggs laid each year in the period 2003 to 2011. We still don’t know if this has been at the expense of the WDs.

Then Bill added this: I guess there are lots of ways of looking at the stats. I did some calculations to see what the average duck eggs per box (of the 61 boxes we monitor) would be. It’s a pretty good average and very consistent over the past nine years. And yes, the number of hooded merganser eggs laid in those boxes has gone up 332% since 2003 (90 in 2003 to 299 in 2011.)

• 2011 – 676 eggs laid, or 11.1 eggs per box.
• 2010 – 679 eggs laid, or 11.1 eggs per box.
• 2009 – 745 eggs laid, or 12.2 eggs per box.
• 2008 – 665 eggs lalid, or 10.9 eggs per box.
• 2007 – 633 eggs laid, or 10.4 eggs per box.
• 2006 – 585 eggs laid, or 9.4 eggs per box.
• 2005 – 588 eggs laid, or 9.6 eggs per box.
• 2004 – 686 eggs laid, or 11.3 eggs per box.
• 2003 – 634 eggs laid, or 10.4 eggs per box.

The nine-year average was 10.8 eggs laid per box. The average eggs laid per nesting season was 655. That’s a lot of duck eggs. If we did that well in the other two thirds of our available nesting boxes we would be almost up to 2,000 eggs laid per year.

Once the floats were in off Boegel Pond, Bill reported that two of them had been used (by ducks) and we also had a successful hooded merganser nest in the large yellow float. Not bad. And one of the bird boxes had two bluebird eggs in it. They were left to see if more would be added or if the nest had been abandoned.

A few of the pond identification signs (fait a la maison par Churchy) began to appear, finally. They should help us know where we are, but if we don’t do some weed whacking, they will soon disappear in the vegetation. A few of the duck boxes and the bluebird/tree swallow boxes also need to have the vegetation cut around them.

Bill is asking all members to keep your eyes open for a good price on black-oil sunflower seeds for our birds this winter. Last fall Ben Mancini found 18-kilo bags on sale at RONA for $9.99 which was a really good price. We bought ten to keep our feeders stocked.

Eastern Bluebirds

According to Tony Denton, “The Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society reports that an increasing number of bluebirds are overwintering, so maybe they know something about global warming. He continues: There was another interesting report in their annual newsletter. Gretchen and I have usually found dead tree swallows in nesting boxes in the spring, often several in a box, which we have always assumed was due to the birds arriving too early and being hit by a cold spell at a time when there were no insects around, and we assumed that they huddled together for warmth. We may be wrong.

“OEBS reports that sometimes the adult tree swallows are unable to climb out of a box which has no nest. We are now searching our records to see if we noted the numbers of boxes where dead birds were found, and we will try to go around all of the boxes to roughen up the inside before spring.

In June, following the DND field day, Bill had noted that our bluebirds were doing well over at the Field Office and feeding their young. At the same time no fewer than three pairs of eastern bluebirds were looking to build nests in DND’s “purple martin houses” in front of the ranges. One pair was looking to build right in front of the HQ building.

Earthquake in Christchurch

On February 22^nd, 2011, the earth moved in Christchurch, New Zealand. This would not normally make the pages of the Nestbox, but ODC member Tom Irwin and his friend Catherine were in Christchurch that day and this is his report on what happened.

Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud to the Maori, and New Zealand to the newcomers. About 1500 km. south of Australia, three beautiful islands seemed to float at peace in a benign sea, but the geological forces that built these islands continue to this day. We experienced one such force, an earthquake, in Christchurch.

It happened on February 22nd, 2011 at 1300 hours. A 6.3 magnitude quake about 5 km. below the surface with the epicentre about 10 km. from the centre of Christchurch. The massive damage to the central business district was estimated at $20 billion, and the death toll eventually rose to over 200.

Catherine and I had arrived on the South Island a few days earlier and had slowly worked our way to Christchurch, renowned for its beauty and architecture; one of the jewels being the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral for which the city was named.

We arrived the day before the quake and briefly scouted the downtown core.  Everything was so beautiful in the summer sun and we were full of plans for the following days. We retired to our friends’ house where we had a pleasant walk on the beach. We learned that there had been over two thousand aftershocks since the 7.1 magnitude quake the previous September—but not to worry; the aftershocks had become infrequent and could hardly be felt. We slept peacefully, our last peaceful sleep for a couple of nights.

The following morning we decided to go to the Antarctic Discovery Centre on the outskirts of the city before going downtown. There we watched a 4D movie of Antarctic exploration, which included our seats rocking and water mist spraying in our faces as the icebreaker on the screen crashed through rough seas. Suddenly the seats rocked vigorously when the scene in the movie had become peaceful. We wondered why the effects were disconnected. Then the theatre lights came on and we were told an earthquake had occurred. We all walked calmly out to a parking lot but re-entered the building five minutes later. This was done a second time and then a third as the aftershocks kept striking. Then the theatre was closed and everyone walked to the main entrance, milling around there. We were given sketchy updates by the staff and it became obvious that the downtown core had suffered serious damage. Then a fourth and bigger aftershock struck, retail goods crashed to the floor, people screamed and some cried, and everyone ran outside. Luckily the building had been built to withstand earthquakes. Other buildings and people were not so fortunate.

We later learned that the Christ Church Cathedral we were going to visit had collapsed with people buried in the debris, that the hostel where we had originally planned to stay had collapsed with people killed, and that the patio we had lunched at the day before was buried under the façade of the restaurant.

We were very thankful that we went first to the Antarctic Centre and not to the city centre where most of the damage occurred and that we had escaped with our lives. The nearby roads seemed fine so we decided to work our way back to our hosts. There was little damage visible at first but as we approached the sector where they lived, it became more frequent and more serious. Large cracks appeared in the road, and a couple of cars were nose down in holes. Some roads were flooded due to ground water rising to the surface. Cars were stuck in the water and people were walking along the edge of the road. Liquefied ground, a result of quake vibrations, was everywhere. Many people, including us, were driving over bridges where the road approaches had dropped a couple of centimetres. At one traffic circle, there was a deep hole in the middle of the road and the remaining surface had sunk about 30 cms. The car bottomed out with a sickening bang as it dropped into the depression and then scraped loudly as it climbed out. Luckily nothing was damaged. Another bridge closer to our friends’ house was impassable as both approaches had dropped about 50 cms. Cars had been abandoned nearby and the bridge was thick with people walking across it. We eventually got back to our friends after taking a long roundabout route. And, of course, the whole trip was accompanied by the continual rumbling and shaking of the ground. Quite a nerve-racking drive!

At the house, shelves had fallen and broken glass littered the floor. Kate arrived home much later as she had been obliged to abandon her car and walk a few kms home. Their house seemed to have survived but a few houses in the neighbourhood had lost one or more walls. It seemed indecent to be able to look into exposed bedrooms and bathrooms from the street.

There was no power, no running water, and no functioning toilet, but our friends were up to the challenge. A good pasta supper was cooked on their Coleman stove, and an open air pit toilet was dug in the compost pile. After supper we played Scrabble for hours under the glow of a Coleman lantern. All the while, aftershocks continued. Eventually we went to bed and slept fitfully, waking to each aftershock every 25 to 30 minutes. Each started with a loud bang and a rumble and then the house would shake as we wondered if it was going to fall down. The hallways had been cleared of impediments and the doors left ajar in case it would be necessary to run for safety. Knowing that thousands of people were in the same situation provided little comfort. It was quite the night, but, unlike many others, we survived unscathed.

The following day our hosts left for the outskirts where they had friends who still had power and other services. They led us first to a gas station about 15 kms. away where we joined the queue and got badly needed fuel. After a grateful goodbye, we headed for the west coast some 200 kms. away where we hoped we would be safe. And we were.

It took at least a week before unexpected noises stopped creating anxieties. We realized we were the lucky ones. Many people had lost their lives and many others will suffer economic hardships. A gigantic effort will be required to restore Christchurch, but other cities and people have done so successfully.

I am confident that the Maori Long White Cloud will again look down upon a splendid and vibrant Christchurch.

NCC greenbelt review

Early in the summer, Mario attended an NCC presentation on the Greenbelt and reported that the three concepts all include the continuous expansion of the Greenbelt west of the sanctuary on the other side of Riddell Drive. In our area specifically, their vision is to augment the Greenbelt by absorbing as much as possible of the Constance Lake /Creek wetland complex (whose headwaters are in the Sanctuary) all the way to Constance Bay. Interestingly, the large forested estuary at the other end of Constance Creek is already Crown land, and available to explore. It looks as though we are safe for now and might actually have additional wetland closeby to expand to in the future.

Churchy’s Column

We would like to welcome two new members to the fold. Vincent Théberge, of the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, joined us in the spring and Valérie Gaston of the Skeet Club just signed up at the end of August. Vincent has been out a few times and we hope Valérie will be able to visit soon.

Finally a couple of thank yous: first to Al and Erma Beaulieu for building us a sturdy new picnic table. We will be lunching on it for a long time; and to Churchy’s sister-in-law Barbara Topp, who gave us some garden tools, including a sturdy spade that will be handy for clearing culverts and other dirty job.

Club News

Well here it is, February again, the dead of winter, but the Ottawa Duck Club never hibernates. It’s time to mark your calendars and make plans to attend the club’s 45^th Annual General Meeting.

It’s also membership renewal time and you will find a renewal form as well as a message from President Bill Bower in with this newsletter. And it’s almost income tax time, so there should be an official receipt if you paid your dues last year.

Winter Box Checks

Have faith, it won’t be long before the ducks start to fly back, but while they’ve been sunning themselves down south, club members have been busy getting things ready for their return. And things have gone quite smoothly this winter. In fact, we had all the boxes at the sanctuary as well as those at Watt’s Creek, cleaned and ready by January 21^st. Bill thinks this should be in the Guinness Book of Records.

Here’s his summary of the winter works program so far: “Now all the boxes have been completed including those at Watts Creek and Petrie Island. I would think that all the new boxes we have been building and installing these past few years has really helped. We spend less time now doing repairs to old boxes.

The hatch results for 2010 were down slightly. There are likely a number of factors involved, from fewer females coming back to nest, to abandoned nests, egg loss to predators, low water levels, spring storms, etc. We will never know exactly. All club members can do is prepare the boxes at the best locations we can find, install predator guards where possible and kick out the starlings. The rest is up to the ducks.

Churchy, Ben, Mario, Richard, Bill, Tom, Austin and Al enjoy lunch by Shirley’s Creek. (Photo by Richard Burnford)

We did start to check a few kestrel boxes (3 to be exact) and one of those had a successful wood duck hatch (second year in a row). This is interesting because there are no shavings or anything else in the box when the female lays her eggs. I guess they just roll to the lowest corner and then she adds in the down and incubates them (all of them).

Of course, all the details will be provided in the Annual Report to be completed in time for the Annual Meeting in March.”

On February 10 Bill, Richard Burnford and Churchy got together at Petrie Island to finish the winter box checks.

Arctic explorers Richard and Churchy prepare for arduous expedition. (Photo by Bill Bower)

The results were a bit disappointing with only four successful hatches, one box missing and presumed drowned (or downed), and two boxes occupied by squirrels for the winter.

Here’s Richard’s account of the day: “It was a great day down at Petrie Island, nice and sunny if a bit brisk. All the wildlife must have been taking it easy, however, all we saw was four squirrels and three crows. Oh, and me jumping three feet in the air (not easy to do when you’re wearing snowshoes and standing on the fourth rung of a step ladder) when a lively black squirrel peeped out at me as soon as I opened the door to the nesting box. It just as quickly jumped out the hole at the top of the box, along with a grey squirrel that was sharing a warm winter retreat courtesy of the Ottawa Duck Club.”

So now there’s nothing to do — oh, except for the few dozen items on Wildlife Director Austin Taverner’s To Do list. With luck, we’ll have everything done by the time the ducks are back.

Interesting sightings so far have included the usual winter flocks of Bohemian waxwings, a red-tailed hawk, a ruffed grouse, a northern shrike and a lingering great blue heron. On the mammalian side, there have been plenty of deer and a small porcupine Bill figures must only be a year old, but was by itself.

In other news

Club secretary Ben Mancini recently underwent minor surgery and is almost ready to get back to work. Austin’s making a special To Do list for him.

Last winter, while doing our box checks, we looked at some boxes at Innis Point that were installed several years ago by Oliver Wellman for the Innis Point Bird Observatory, but had not been maintained in recent years. There was evidence that some had been used, and as Bill Petrie of the IPBO said he didn’t have time to spare for them, we have agreed to take them over. This year’s checks include these new boxes.

Tree Swallow Boxes at Ottawa Duck Club, 2010

by Tony and Gretchen Denton

(As most of you know, besides the duck and kestrel boxes, the club also maintains a number of bluebird/tree swallow boxes both at the sanctuary and off Timm Road in Bells Corners. Tony and Gretchen Denton look after this aspect of our work, here’s their report on the boxes at the sanctuary. Ed.)

Full monitoring of these boxes did not start until May 7, when some tree swallow nests and eggs were already there. Bird activity had stopped by June 25. We cleaned out boxes on July 2 and August 6.

We now have three pairs of boxes plus one single box at the Fieldhouse; 12 single boxes along the road into the sheds; and 12 pairs of boxes around and in fields behind the sheds.  No bluebirds are using them so far.

(NB. Last summer, Bill sent this bluebird report: Seems like we have eastern blue birds all around us at the sanctuary but not right in our target area. There are bluebirds nesting at Innis Point. There is a pair nesting in one of the three boxes at the intersection of Perimeter Road and Malabar Road. There is another pair nesting in a “purple martin” house just in front of the ranges near the DND HQ building. Ed.)

We did not check every box every time we went in; we presumed a hatch if we saw babies or if we found a dirty nest at the end of the season. Of the 12 boxes along the road, seven had hatches; one had a wren’s nest but no eggs. One each of the three pairs of boxes at the Fieldhouse had a hatch, as did the single box.

At least one box of each pair around the sheds was used. In two cases the eggs did not hatch. Two of the pairs of boxes had BOTH boxes occupied, all with successful hatches. In both of these cases, the second box had eggs laid in it when the first box still had young. (Conventional wisdom is that tree swallows will not tolerate a second pair nesting close by. Ed.) A wren’s nest was started in one box but not used. Another box had a successful mouse nest. Startling! How did the mother climb the pole?

Ontario’s Reptile and Amphibian Atlas From Ontarionature.org

(Most Duck Club members are interested in all forms of wildlife, so this item from Ontario Nature should be of interest. Ed.)

Ontario’s reptiles and amphibians are becoming increasingly rare. In fact, three quarters (18 of 24) of Ontario’s reptile species are listed as species at risk.

Reptiles and amphibians are collectively known as herpetofauna and are a unique part of Ontario’s biodiversity. An earlier atlas, called the Ontario Herpetofaunal Summary Atlas, provided extensive information about where many of the province’s reptiles and amphibians occurred. However, much of that information now needs to be updated. Furthermore, many populations of rare reptiles and amphibians are still being discovered. We need this information to monitor changes in the ranges of reptile and amphibian species and fluctuations in their population numbers. We also rely on this data to determine if a species is at risk and to identify and manage important habitat for rare reptiles and amphibians.

Ontario Nature has begun work on a new Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas project in partnership with the Eastern Ontario Model Forest (EOMF), the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC), and other government agencies and nongovernmental organizations.

The objective of the atlas project is to improve our knowledge of the distribution and status of Ontario’s reptiles and amphibians by collecting observation submissions from the public, carrying out field surveys and amalgamating existing databases.

We need volunteers to submit their observations of reptiles and amphibians found throughout Ontario. Observations can be submitted via an online form, an Excel spreadsheet (useful for submitting multiple observations) or a printable data card that can be mailed in.

Blandings turtle at Shirley’s Bay (Photo by Bill Bower)

Atlas presentations and workshops

Each summer we deliver presentations and training workshops for groups that are interested in participating in the atlas project. Our presentations provide an overview of the local reptiles and amphibians, techniques and tips for surveying for reptiles and amphibians and an overview of the atlas project. Workshops, intended for groups of at least 10 people, provide hands-on training while surveying an area of local interest.

How you can get involved:

* Help support the atlas project by submitting your sightings (from this summer, previous years or future years). Remember, we’re looking for observations of all reptile and amphibian species, not just the rare ones.

* Book a presentation or contact us to organize a local survey event in your area.

* Inquire about potential partnership opportunities with the atlas project.

* Join our atlas mailing list to receive newsletters and calls to action.

* Attend an upcoming atlas event or workshop.

Please contact John Urquhart, Staff Ecologist at johnu@ontarionature.org to find out more about these opportunities.

Churchy’s Column

Birds in the News

The news media were all aflutter in January with stories of thousands of blackbirds falling dead out of the sky in various places. Rumours suggested mass poisonings, lightning, even the end of days. An ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission blamed fireworks that startled the birds from their roosts. Many remain sceptical. Apparently mass bird deaths are not uncommon. In 1999 several thousand grackles died suddenly. E. coli turned out to be the cause, but we may never know what led to the recent deaths.

Avian cholera, common among waterfowl in southern North America, was also in the news with reports it had spread to the Canadian Arctic. Since 2004 it has killed thousands of eider ducks and other birds and scientists with Environment Canada are puzzled over how it spreads and how it is persisting.

While avian cholera is not contagious to humans, H5N1 avian influenza is, so ODC members have expressed some concerns in recent years about risks from our box checks.

As I read it, we don’t need to be too alarmed. A report in the October 2010 issue of the Journal of Applied Ecology downplayed the role of wild migratory birds in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1. The scientists determined that “the likelihood of … virus dispersal over long distances by individual wildfowl is low: we estimate that for an individual migratory bird there are, on average, only 5–15 days per year when infection could result in the dispersal of HPAI H5N1 virus over 500 km.”

To read more about this study, click on:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01845.x/abstract

Birding by ear

I recently came across this story in the OFO (Ontario Field Ornithologists) News of June 2008, about the hazards of identifying birds by ear. A group of experienced birders were sitting around discussing the morning’s hike when they heard a merlin call. “Everyone keenly looked all around — but to no avail….One party member said, ‘All I can find is that silly old robin on top of that tall spruce over there — but that’s no merlin!’ But hold on…and we all could see quite clearly now, focussing on that bird: whenever that ‘silly old robin’ threw back its head and flexed its brightly-coloured chest, out came, not the expected clear liquid song of a thrush, but the very pronounced sharp call of that elusive merlin.  What a silly bird. Everyone was in agreement, this bird must have imprinted on the song as a hatchling in a nest in the vicinity of a merlin’s eyrie. So, we wondered, will this poor bird ever get a chance to find a mate of its own kind with a call like this? Most likely not. It must be quite scary for any prospective female robin to even come close to a ‘brute’ like him. If anything, the only one he will ever attract, sooner or later, will be a real merlin, and he or she will have him for dinner.”

Birder’s questions

In the Feb 2009 issue of Birder’s World , a reader asked why pigeons come in so many colours, a question I have sometimes pondered. The answer is that the wild form of the rock pigeon, which originated in Eurasia, is a grayish bird with a gray head and it first came to North America in the early 1600s. Since then it has interbred with escaped and released domestic birds that are bred for the colour or ornamentation of their plumage. Pigeons usually occur close to humans, especially in cities, where they have few predators so being conspicuous is not much of a problem.

Another reader asked why some birds hop while others walk. It seems that birds that spend most of their time in trees tend to hop, but since hopping takes more energy than walking, ground feeders usually walk. Some do both and others, like hummingbirds and chimney swifts do neither.

Churchy and LA FEMME GO BIRDING IN ENGLAND

After 30 years stuck on this side of the pond, Churchy and La Femme decided to rediscover England this summer. Aside from visiting (aka freeloading) with relatives, we wanted to pad our life lists with birds we never see over here. To that end we planned to visit some of the many preserves operated by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The RSPB is over a century old, has more than a million members, more than 12,000 volunteers and 200 nature reserves covering almost 130,000 hectares. These are home to 80 per cent of Britain’s rarest or most threatened bird species.

Some of these reserves have no entry fees, while those with fees are free to RSPB members. Many of them have interpretation centres and all, as far as we could tell, have spacious viewing hides with pictures of what you’re likely to see. The first one we went to, Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex, had an entry fee of £3.50 per person, so I jokingly asked if we could get a one-month membership. After all, we were planning to visit other reserves where we would have to pay. Instead of laughing at the joke, the RSPB representative told us we could join for a year and pay what ever we wanted — this is standard policy. She said some people paid £20 and others paid £100, so we decided £20 wasn’t bad for three weeks. Then she said we could choose one of three books as a gift for joining. We chose their guide to the birds of Britain that normally costs £10. So we had £17 out of our £20 investment already!

Inside Westmead Hide at Pulborough Brooks. (Photo by Gina Smith)

We visited five reserves in all: Pulborough Brooks was a mix of woods and fields; Ham Wall Marsh in Somerset was, of course, marsh land, much like our sanctuary, but without the mosquitoes and black flies; Nagshead in Gloucestershire was mostly wooded, with fields of bluebells in full bloom; Lakenheath Fen in Norfolk was another marshy area and Minsmere also in Norfolk was on the North Sea coast. All but Nagshead were staffed with volunteers ready to help identify birds (as were many other visitors — birding is big in Britain and many of our fellow birders had huge telescopes or cameras).

We added more than 50 birds to our life lists (more expert birders would do much better), among the highlights was a barn owl that was very active hunting and feeding its young in broad daylight and a trio of cuckoos, sounding like three clocks as they flew overhead. We would both strongly recommend that other ODC members travelling to Britain check out www.rspb.org.uk/ before you go and consider becoming members.

TAILFEATHERS

Collective nouns from Bill:

Here are some “group terms” you may find interesting:

A group of geese standing around just killing time is referred to as a “FLOCK”. On the other hand, if they are on the water they can be properly referred to as a “GAGGLE” and if the group is flying overhead looking for targets they are collectively referred to as a “SKEIN”. It is unsportsman like to refer to them as a “bunch of gooses”.

About the only other “group” that has a number of terms associated with it is a group of ice fishermen. Both a “CHILL” and a “CHATTER” are frequently used, but the wives of such a group of fishermen often use the term, a “LOONY”. Personally, I like the term, a “COZY”. Take your pick.

Club News

So, where were we? Ah yes, the last newsletter went out way back in March, just before our Annual General Meeting. The big item on the AGM agenda, as usual, was the election. And, also as usual, no revolutionaries stormed the battlements to throw the bums out, so all officers and directors were re-elected. President-for-life Bill Bower didn’t even have to prorogue the meeting to keep his job.

Among the reports presented at the AGM was Barc Dowden’s last bluebird report. After many years of looking after the club’s bluebird boxes in Bells Corners and sending reports annually to the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society, Barc has decided it’s time to pass the torch. Tony and Gretchen Denton have graciously taken over the task. Bill thanked Barc, on behalf of the club, for all his work over the years. We offer him best wishes for the future.

Speaking of the Dentons, congratulations are due to them for winning the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club’s George McGee Service Award this year “for their long-standing dedicated work at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden.”

Special thank you

Bill thinks, and I agree, that it’s high time we said thank you to Scott Smithers and the rest of the Ministry of Natural Resources staff in Kemptville for their on-going assistance in providing us with funds (CFWIP Grants) for our wood duck nest box construction projects.

Memberships

We have two new members to welcome to the club — Dr. Charles Murray joined in April and Mario Poirier came aboard in October and immediately went to work helping to build duck boxes on October 22nd. By my count, we now have 41 paid up members as of Oct 31st. There are about 14 old members who have yet to renew. You know who you are and we’d love to welcome you back for 2011.

Upcoming meetings

Business meeting:
Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 7:00pm

Annual General Meeting:
Tuesday March 15, 2011, 7:00pm
OTTAWA CITIZEN BLDG., BAXTER ROAD
ALL MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND

It’s April and Bill, Ed and Churchy launch Al and the experimental mallard float that wouldn’t. (photo by Ben Mancini)

That was the summer that was

This past summer was pretty challenging for the club. Once the snow melted, our first problem was dealing with the two mowers that had broken at the end of last summer. First up was the old red Lawn Flite. The estimate — more than $1000 — proved too steep, so it was pushed back into the shed. Repairs to the yellow Yard Man turned out to be more reasonable, so that one was fixed and put to work. Meanwhile, our 31-year-old Kubota came down with a bad case of smoke escaping from the engine. It only happened when the engine was running, so we put it away and the problem hasn’t reappeared. Still, some day we’ll have to start it up again. For a variety of reasons, this has not yet been addressed. The biggest reason was the fact that from the start of July we have rarely been able to get into the sanctuary as the range has been very busy. In the meantime, the rains in August and September meant that when we did get in, our two little mowers, and their drivers, were pushed to their limits.

It wasn’t a great summer for the ducks either. On June 10, our wildlife director, Austin Taverner, sent this summary of the box checks to that point: The numbers of eggs laid and hatched is down a little from this time last year. We have a few late nests started so hopefully the hatches will be good for them. The number of abandoned nests is similar to recent years and is always a mystery. We still have a small number of eggs being removed from some nests, but have yet to be able to get a picture of the culprit(s) with our trail camera [see below, ed.] – the disappearance of eggs is mostly happening to nests with more than one female laying, and we suspect the ducks themselves are removing eggs. Too many eggs in one nest can cause problems as Tom Irwin found out last week in one of his boxes that originally contained 19 merganser eggs: only four chicks hatched and got out of the box safely; five dead chicks, two eggs with chicks partially broken through and eight eggs with chicks inside but not breaking through were found in the box.

Things didn’t get better and at our October meeting Austin reported that the number of eggs laid in the 61 boxes we monitor through the summer was very low this year and the hatch was even lower. We counted 411 wood duck eggs laid and only 174 hatched (42%). Hooded mergansers had an even worse hatch rate, with 268 laid and 91 hatched (34%). On the other hand, the number of merganser eggs laid has gone up significantly in the last two summers. Most of the unhatched eggs were due to nests being abandoned, perhaps because the below average snowfall last winter and the dry spring had our ponds shrivelling up. Austin also reported that most of the abandoned nests had signs of a struggle, indicating that more than one female was using the nest. One positive was that there was very little normal predation — when all eggs are missing.

Summer Box checks

Every year we face the dilemma of what to do about cold eggs in the nest boxes. To get advice on this issue, Austin asked our Scientific Adviser, Rod Brook:

Hi Rod; Every year I struggle as to what to do when we have cold eggs, with little down, for several weeks after completion of the wood duck and hooded merganser clutches. We normally use three weekly visits to the box as a rule of thumb to determine if eggs are abandoned (if they are covered with a six to eight inch starling nest every week then there is little doubt). We then clear the box and make it available for a possible new nest. If in doubt I give it one more week. Is this too soon to discard the eggs? My experience tells me that if incubation has not started by then it never will be, but I hate throwing out good eggs. Any thoughts? Aus…

And here is Rod’s reply:

Hey Aus; The female will start incubation after the last egg is laid so if you have a full clutch and cold eggs there is little doubt. The only time I would be concerned would be if it’s cold outside when you do your check and there is a chance the hen was flushed off for a half hour or more before you get to the box. Down is hard to go by early in incubation as it can vary a lot. If in doubt, you could carry a sharpie and number the eggs. If they are all as you left them the week before (not turned and in the same order) then you can be pretty sure the nest is abandoned. Females turn and rotate the eggs to the centre constantly. Rod

With this advice, we have begun to carry markers when checking nest boxes, and numbering the eggs when we suspect a nest has been abandoned. It has generally worked well, but there was one time when Austin returned to a nest to find that four of the numbered eggs had been removed and replaced with four new eggs. In another box, he cracked open an egg he thought had been abandoned only to discover a chick ready to emerge. He carefully returned the egg to the box and the following week found that it had successfully left the nest.

Trail camera

Austin’s June 10th report refers to the mystery we have been trying to solve for years about “who is robbing the nests?” You’d think with all the retired cops in the club, it wouldn’t be hard to get to the bottom of this problem, but you’d be wrong. So last year we purchased a trail camera that takes pictures automatically and set it up by boxes that have been robbed frequently. Al Beaulieu has led this project, with help from Ben Mancini and Mary Lou Porter.

The results have been disappointing — the only predator caught in the act was a crow and it wasn’t able to get at the eggs. Most of the time there’s no indication what triggered the camera. Whether the problem is with the camera or us is yet to be determined. Perhaps the ducks fly into the boxes too fast for the shutter.

Male merganser leaving box as female enters. [date is off by a few years, ed.]

Purple Martins

Despite disappointments with the ducks, there was some good news this summer too. We were pleased to welcome back a noisy flock of purple martins after a few years of absence. Once they had left, Ben checked the martin apartments to find out what he could learn and to clean them out for next year. In one of them, he found evidence of 11 purple martin nests. One nest had two dead chicks and two unhatched eggs. Another nest also had two dead chicks. In the other apartment, Ben found four grackle nests, all on the lowest level of the complex.

And he had this to say about the martins’ nests: “I never realized how bad the smell was in those nests — much worse then Austin’s sardines!” That’s pretty bad.

Bird sightings

The best bird sighting this summer had to be the male black crowned night heron that perched near the sheds one evening in June while we had our dinner. The great egrets that arrived later in the summer were another highlight. We also had a pair of great horned owls that successfully fledged two owlets in the Heron Pond heronry. And let’s not overlook the fact that three osprey nests were active on the sanctuary this summer, one by Rifle Road, one at Innes Point and one by Tenth Line Road. This is not a record — once there were seven active nests on the sanctuary — which has Ben thinking we should build another platform and invite them to our part of the property.

Great Egret (photo by Ben Mancini)

Tony’s Hide

While going through some old minutes, Bill found this note from the 44th General Meeting of the ODC held on November 4, 1969: “A suggestion was made that a blind should be built in the fields at the compound for purposes of filming waterfowl.” Bill says he didn’t see any follow-up at the time, but last year Tony came up with the same idea, and acted on it. Last winter, he designed a pre-fab hide, which he then built at home. In the early spring he brought the pieces out to the sanctuary and with some help from his friends, put the puzzle together. The result is a spiffy new hide near the Dike pond. Bill expressed some concerns after a particularly windy day in June, since you never know if that pre-fab stuff is built to code, but the structure came through with flying colours.

Tom Irwin, Ben Tony and Ed Lang assembling Tony’s shed (photo by Gretchen)

Tony and Ed putting finishing touches to Tony’s hideaway (photo by Ben Mancini)

Feeding deer in winter

Now that winter is almost upon us, it’s worth reading this article by Jim Gourlay, called “Killing with kindness.” Bill got it from Saltscapes, a magazine from Atlantic Canada.

Here are six reasons why feeding deer in the winter is a bad idea.

1. In northern climates, deer “yard up” in winter, sticking close to an area offering both food and shelter—where they beat down regular paths through the snow between the two areas. When “free” food is offered, the yarded herd will concentrate in a smaller area and become highly dependent on a single unnatural food source. In such a single food source situation, stronger animals will push the weak aside, and those animals will be denied food and starve. Wild deer that are dispersed in a natural wintering habitat rarely exhibit this behaviour, allowing the younger deer an opportunity to feed.

2. The dependence situation created can also cause deer to abandon their natural tendency to conserve energy in winter, with fatal consequences if the food source suddenly dries up (during that winter vacation, or if the person finds it too expensive to do it properly, at about $60 per deer per four-month season).

3. Deer, so concentrated, also become more vulnerable to the spread of disease, predation, harassment by domestic dogs, and highway collisions.

4. And, speaking of disease, the bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease outbreaks that have decimated wild deer herds in western North America can be exacerbated by deer feeders—uneaten food in the corners of the feeders may facilitate harmful bacterial growth.

5. Deer, attracted by a regular free meal, will also help themselves to expensive shrubbery and fruit trees. Their concentrated numbers will hinder the natural regeneration of wild tree species in the vicinity.

6. And, too often we offer them the wrong food. In winter, apples just don’t cut it—they are like candy to kids. The smell will attract deer, for they clearly enjoy the taste, but the fruit provides virtually no vital nourishment to meet their metabolic needs.

 

Young white-tailed buck at Shirley’s Bay. (Photo by Ben Mancini)

THE PETRIE ISLAND WOODDUCK NESTING BOX STORY

by Grant Hopkins (with additional vague recollections from Bill Bower.)

In 1987, I was president of the Ottawa Duck Club and Bill Bower was vice-president and both of us lived in Orleans. We thought that a wood duck nesting box program along the lower Ottawa River from about Beacon Hill to Rockland would be a good conservation project that we could look after more conveniently than heading down the Queensway each week to the Shirley’s Bay sanctuary. The only wood ducks seen along the lower Ottawa at this time were only passing through.

I put together an application to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in March 1987 for funding under the Community Wildlife Improvement Program (CWIP) which was eventually approved and the club received the requested funds in 1988 (around $800 as I vaguely recall.)

The project involved installing wood duck boxes in five locations — the Duck Islands opposite the Ottawa sewage treatment plant at Green’s Creek; Green’s Creek itself; Petrie Island; the islands west of Rockland in Lafontaine Bay; and in Clarence Creek east of Rockland. The total number of boxes to be installed originally was 30 but we stopped at 21 located as follows:

• Lower Duck Island – 4
• Green’s Creek - 3
• Petrie Island – 7
• Ottawa River at Lafontaine Bay – 4
• Ottawa River at Clarence Creek – 3

(Today we have 13 boxes at Petrie Island, ed.)

Getting approval to locate these boxes was a bit of a pain as a number of agencies were involved. Approvals were eventually obtained from the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, owners of Lower Duck, Petrie Island and Green’s Creek; the Township of Cumberland for the Rockland area; and Ontario Hydro. We had planned to place boxes on Upper Duck Island, owned by the City of Gloucester, but after much prodding they refused permission because our boxes would interfere with future marina development planned for the island. I have yet to figure out who dreamed up this excuse.

In my 1988 status report to the MNR in April of 1988, I expressed my displeasure as follows: “The full support and encouragement of the various levels of government who owned or controlled the various locations were obtained in a timely manner. The only exception was the City of Gloucester, which, after much delay, refused to allow boxes on Upper Duck Island. The city seemed in a state of confusion over our conservation project and flimsy excuses were offered for denying the club a go-ahead. The matter was not pursued.”

In the same letter I reported that about 150 man-hours of volunteer labour had been involved in installing these boxes to date and that one box on Petrie Island had been occupied and 11 eggs successfully hatched. We at least enjoyed some partial success.

In subsequent years, we pulled the boxes from Green’s Creek and Lower Duck Island because of a lack of nesting activity. We had a few boxes used initially by woodies in Lafontaine Bay and none in Clarence Creek. This latter situation was rather surprising as of all the Rockland locations, Clarence Creek seemed to have the best habitat and most potential. One box was stolen from the creek and we eventually abandoned or recovered the others.

The RMOC, City of Gloucester and Cumberland Township are now history. Despite some ups and downs, the project can be considered a success from the results of Petrie Island alone. When we started we had no idea if and where the ducks might find our boxes to their liking. The fact that over 1,000 woodies have been hatched at Petrie since 1987 has made it all worthwhile.

ODC 2011 CALENDAR

For the second year in a row, Bill and Ben have created a calendar of pictures taken at our sanctuary. Copies are going fast at $15, but some may still be available. Send your orders to: info@ottawaduckclub.com.

SEASONS GREETINGS

Shooting competitions kept us out of the sanctuary for six weeks in August and September, a holiday that ended in late September. But don’t get the idea that nothing was happening. First off, Bill and Austin Taverner went shopping. As Bill reported, “Almost everything has now been purchased to complete our 2009 Wood Duck Nesting Box Project. We have enough materials to build at least 25 new boxes. Home Depot cut it up for us for free. We also have the screws, glue, caulking and paint donated by Randall’s.” 

 

The intrepid box builders Mary Lou and Austin posing in the foreground, Bill and Ed working behind. (Photo by Ben Mancini)

Last year the big project was rebuilding our main shed. This year it was the turn of our second shed, the one that houses the Kubota. And again, Ed Lang led the work crew that included Bill, Ben, Austin, Tom Irwin and Mary Lou. Besides replacing all the siding, this shed’s walls were in serious need of straightening. The job was completed successfully and the whole shed received a coat of paint before the snow started to fly.

Looking ahead to next summer, we have serious work to get done on our two lawn tractors, neither of which was working at summer’s end.

Austin has been very efficient and productive this winter and so much work has been done already that his To-Do list is getting really short — and it’s only February.

 

On Valentine’s Day, the work crew checked three of the Kestrel boxes and found all had been used by starlings. The most interesting finding was that the box on the big trees just west of the sheds, a long way from the nearest body of water, was also used by a wood duck and the female had a very successful hatch on top of the starling’s nest.

Later in February, while checking the rest of the kestrel boxes, Bill, Ben and Churchy found evidence of a successful American kestrel hatch in one, also on top of a starling’s nest. There was "white-wash" on the inside of the box and in the flattened nest, which was on top of a starling nest, we found mouse hair, skeletal remains of mice and wings from large dragonflies, along with lots of droppings. 

We were also visited by a red (and white) squirrel that seems to be living in our main shed and chewing everything in sight. It appears to be suffering from mange, hence the large white patches.

We tried to entice the deer to come back by putting out some deer feed, but unlike the snow buntings, the deer weren’t hurrying back. We also refilled our suet feeders and had better, almost immediate, results. It was good to see a pair of red-breasted nuthatches come as soon as we moved away. Then, as we were returning from Innis Point, we saw three wild turkeys around McCabe Bridge. And as Bill put it: “two ‘sharp-eyed’ members (Merrill Smith and Mary Lou) saw a kestrel in the same general area, flying, hovering, and perching on one of the soldier silhouettes, not far from the box that a kestrel had used. That was good news for sure.”

 On the lighter side, one mild day in January, Mary Lou lost her grip and fell off the toboggan onto a damp patch of Ottawa River ice. And on another outing Bill tried to dump himself and Churchy off his snowmobile, quite successfully.

In addition to our duck boxes at the sanctuary, the club also maintains a number of bluebird/swallow boxes both at the sanctuary and on Timm Drive in Bells Corners. Barc Dowden has monitored the Timm Drive boxes for many years. This year he took Tony and Gretchen Denton along to get started with the work. They monitored nine boxes in all. Activity was first seen on June 12 (after one April and one May visit) and last seen on July 3. Bluebirds hatched in one box, and tree swallows used four of the boxes: two had successful swallow hatches, one had a hatch in which the babies died, and in the fourth one egg was laid which did not hatch.

On August 17 we checked and cleaned all the boxes. In October and November Tony Denton and others carried in 11 new boxes and mounted them on metal poles in preparation for 2010. It was a challenge to find enough soil above rock to pound them in. They were left to weather over the winter and attract bluebirds — we hope — next spring.

  “Bluebird” (Tree Swallow) Boxes 2009 at Ottawa Duck Club

by Gretchen Denton

We monitored these between April 17 and September 25. Nest building had started by May 8, and most activity was over by June 26. 

 We presumed there had been hatches when either babies were seen or a dirty nest was left. The paired boxes (14 pairs) had 14 hatches. Two single boxes in the fields had babies on June 12, and a single near the Lilac Pond was dirty so apparently had had a hatch. Out of the 12 single boxes along the road, there were probably seven or eight hatches.

 

As expected, all pairs had one active and one inactive box, with one exception: on June 5, box 417 had babies while the box paired with it (324) had eggs.

 One box (313) appeared to have two broods: babies on June 5 and eggs on June 19 and July 3. Since the boxes were not checked again until September, we don’t know whether the second brood hatched.

 

When boxes were cleaned out, a total of four dead adult birds were found but no dead babies. It appears that the cold and rainy June did not affect them.

 

Wrens’ nests with some white cottony material, probably insect cocoons, in them were found in four boxes, twice in one of them — first cleaned out on June 26 but another nest built, discovered on October 2. These are more wrens’ nests than we’ve seen in the last few years.

 

Nest boxes for bluebirds

by Tony Denton

The quest for a nesting box which will attract bluebirds continues. Off Timm Drive there has long been a moderately successful chain of bluebird boxes which were maintained by Barc Dowden. When asked by Barc to take over the chain I felt strongly that as the boxes were old, they should be replaced, especially as the position of the boxes differed from the recommendations of the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society, in several respects.

 

Tony, Ben and Tom building bluebird boxes (Photo by Gretchen Denton)

 

With help from Tom and Ben, 12 new boxes of slightly new design, made during the summer as a 50-box construction project, were installed on poles, in pairs. (The last one is still to be done.)

 What the result will be will not be known until spring and summer. The old boxes have been left in place, where last year one of them — an old box with an unattached lid, low on a rotting post beside a busy road — produced the only successful hatch late in the summer.

 

One worrying development is the news that the city is planning a large infrastructure project that will see a lot of construction activity on Timm Drive in the summer of 2010. How this will affect the bluebirds and other wildlife in the area remains to be seen.

 

Peephole experiment by Tony Denton

When doing weekly checks on wood duck nesting boxes I had always felt guilty about opening the box to check on activity, because of the disturbance caused to a sitting hen. In order to test the possibility of checking a box to see if a hen was sitting, without opening the access door, I installed in ten boxes, a peephole such as can be mounted on a house door to see who is outside. (see: The Nestbox No. 17, March 2006, ed.)

There were many difficulties, in particular locating the peephole at a position both comfortable for the observer and where the sitting bird could be seen. Often, getting myself into position to look through the eyepiece made more disturbance, by shaking the box or rattling the cone-guard, than opening the door would have. Opening the flap over the peephole also resulted in the bird being startled by the beam of light suddenly shining on it. It quickly became obvious that this experiment was one best forgotten.

 

 

Viewing blind

Plans are afoot to build a blind in 2010 with Tony Denton taking the lead. Here’s his proposal: “For a long time I have been interested in building a blind from which we can watch the activity on Dike Pond without disturbing the birds, and recently others have also expressed interest in building one, so I have drawn up rough plans based on wood which I have available. The main item I do not have is plywood, and it would take seven or eight sheets to enclose the basic 4ft X 4ft frame.” Some details remain to be worked out, such as how many people to accommodate, whether they should be able to sit or stand, and how to seal the box against invaders, such as raccoons, porcupines and mosquitoes (good luck with that one, ed.)

 

 

Speaking of raccoons (Photo by Mary Lou Porter)

CHURCHY’S COLUMN

Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas

First there was the Ontario Breeding Birds Atlas, now Ontario Nature is working on a Reptile and Amphibian Atlas. For anyone interested in participating in this project, here’s some information from Joe Crowley of Ontario Nature.

 “Ontario Nature’s new Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas program is nearing the end of its first year, and we need your help to compile as many observations of Ontario’s reptiles and amphibians as possible! We are looking for observations of all reptile and amphibian species in Ontario, from any time (last summer or 10 years ago). Observations can be reported using our new online reporting form, an Excel reporting form or mail-in cards, all of which are available on our website at: ontarionature.org/herpetofaunal_atlas.html.

In March, the online "Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians of Ontario" will be available on our website, and will include descriptions of all of Ontario’s reptiles and amphibians, photos, range maps, information about the program and how to get involved, and much more!

 

If you are interested in receiving e-mail newsletters, event notifications, and other updates about the atlas program, please register by submitting an observation or clicking on the "register" link on our website. If you would like to schedule a presentation or workshop for your group, or if you have any questions, please e-mail Joe Crowley at joec@ontarionature.org “

 

Calendars: Ben and Bill are always looking for ways to get more money out of our pockets, so in December they got together and produced a beautiful calendar of 13 photos taken at the sanctuary. We hope to make this an annual publication, so watch for an announcement in the next Nest Box.

 

Finally, thanks to Gerry Lee for providing five more bags of shavings.

 

 

 SHIRLEY’S BAY SANCTUARY TURNS 80
 

The following is an edited version of an article by Churchy that was published in Trail & Landscape, the official publication of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club. A few copies are available for ODC members to read.

The Shirley’s Bay Crown Game Preserve recently turned 80 years old. Our sanctuary was created on May 21, 1929 through a Letter of Agreement between Ontario’s Department of Game and Fisheries and the federal Department of National Defence. Today it is one of the very few crown game preserves left in the province.

The rifle range itself had been created in 1921 for the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association. In addition to housing the range, Shirley’s Bay at that time was also the home of DND’s only airbase used by both wheeled aircraft and flying boats, then in general use due to the scarcity of airfields.

In those days much of the area around Shirley’s Bay was farmland, including some of the land set aside for the sanctuary. The rest of the preserve consisted of areas that were too swampy to cultivate.

Shirley’s Bay itself has long been known as a prime staging area for waterfowl and as concerns about declining populations of various species began to grow, the founders of the Ottawa Duck Club worked out a deal, in July 1967, to manage about 120 hectares of the sanctuary on behalf of the military. Over the years, subsequent agreements expanded the club’s operations to cover the wetlands and creeks within the sanctuary.

During the 1960s and 70s Duck Club members and military personnel together created a series of ponds to improve habitat for waterfowl. By the mid-70s the club’s man-made ponds covered about 15 hectares. With later construction, that figure would now probably be closer to 24 hectares. Besides ducks, these ponds support a wide variety of wildlife species, including fish, frogs, turtles and aquatic mammals.

How big is our sanctuary? Back when the Duck Club was younger we used to say that the sanctuary covered 2,600 acres. This translates as 1,058 hectares. Somewhere along the way the 2,600 acres became 2,600 hectares or 7,000 acres. Sounds impressive, but unfortunately, it’s wrong. We’ve also used 4,000 acres, but that’s wrong too. Actually, that 2,600-acre figure was right all along.

PRESIDENT FOR LIFE

We celebrated another anniversary at our Annual General Meeting back in March. The AGM marked 20 years since Bill Bower became our president. We decided he should not get time off for good behaviour, he’s stuck with the job for life. By pure coincidence, it was also Grant Hopkins’ 20th anniversary as past president. Members who missed the AGM also missed a great cake courtesy of Mary Lou Porter.

Grant and Bill can’t wait to get at the cake. Photo by Mary Lou

www.ottawaduckclub.com

Hands up all those who visited our Website recently? I’m not seeing many hands. Hands up all those who’ve posted something on our Website? Even fewer. Our Webmaster, Ron St. Louis, has designed the site so that all of us can use it. Every issue of The Nest Box is posted there, and the grainy little black and white pictures in the newsletter look a whole lot better there in full colour.

You can also leave comments about the newsletter—what you liked, what you didn’t like and what you’d like to see in the next one. Maybe you have a message you’d like to pass on to other members—a rare bird sighting or a good source of suet or birdseed. You can leave it there too. Try it out.

There’s also a link to Flickr where members are posting great pictures taken (mostly) at the sanctuary.

RECENT OUTINGS/NEWS

(Recent is a relative term. This newsletter was started when there was still snow on the ground.)

Our great blue herons returned to the heronry in March. ODC members out on March 27 saw five or six pairs on or near their nests, some doing what herons do to create more herons.

In early April, some eastern bluebirds were seen near Innes Point. We have still been unable to entice them to our side of the sanctuary. On the 13th, Bill declared that

“Mary Lou is a good turtle spotter. We found a Blanding’s turtle in a pond not far from the big marsh and saw a second one but couldn’t capture it. That was in the same area where Ben, Tom and I found two on Saturday.

“We also saw a ruffed grouse, pied-billed grebe, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture and a pair of kestrels near McCabe Bridge. Watched the kestrels hovering and flying to the ground to catch insects. No bluebirds seen but lots of tree swallows.”

On the 24th, Tom Irwin and Austin Taverner found that the culvert between Willow Pond and Dividend Pond was blocked so Dividend Pond was quite low. They managed to clear it enough to get water flowing but said more work would be required.

They heard a sora (or maybe it was a Virginia rail) very close but never did see it. Austin says “there are several in Dike pond, or one that travels a lot. Tom sighted the great egret flying near Willow Pond and we had a good view.

“Bill should be happy that the duck box we put on a tree near Dividend Pond had two hooded merganser eggs—Bill selected the new tree during the winter as the old tree holding the box had fallen.”

Speaking of Bill, he reported seeing lots of wood ducks at Petrie Island so we should have a good year there.

A bear was seen somewhere at the sanctuary in mid May. At the time this is being written, it has not disturbed the nest boxes around our ponds, nor has it been seen by club members. Let’s hope that continues.

Other sightings include green herons, bitterns, spotted sandpipers, common terns, common gallinules, blue-winged teal, a great egret, yellow warblers, tree swallows and even purple martins and eastern bluebirds. The latter two species haven’t yet decided to nest on our site, but we’re still hopeful.

Earlier this spring, there was a phoebe’s nest with eggs on the tray behind the old outhouse, but it was destroyed by forces unknown. Happily, the phoebe built a new nest and fledged four chicks, inside our dilapidated metal shed.

And Austin sent this update on wood duck and hooded merganser stats to May 15th, 2009, along with a few observations:

1. To date we have 316 WD and 240 HM eggs laid. These totals are lower than the actual numbers as in many cases females in the nests have prevented an accurate count.
2. 44 out of 62 boxes have been used by WD or HM females—well I suppose the males did contribute!
3. The 240 HM egg count is the highest we’ve recorded in the summer count boxes—2008 had 181 and 2007 had 168.
4. Our WD total should increase as we are early in the season (450 – 480 is typical).
5. We’ve already had one nest (box 177) abandoned due to two females laying eggs in the same box. It appears that a disturbance occurred in the box—probably a fight—and the nest was abandoned. I suspect that we will have more abandoned nests as we’ve recorded several boxes that are shared by wood ducks and hooded mergansers—HM in nest one week and WD the next.
6. So far our WD / HM box observation crews have been diligent, and we’ve been lucky enough to get in most weeks, so I’ve got lots of stats.

One of Jim Sauer’s friends took two of our old, run-down purple martin houses and refurbished them. He kept one and gave us the other so next year we will essentially have a brand new one to put up. Let’s hope the martins come back and make use of it. Ben Mancini did some research and found that martins often will not return to a spot where they’ve experienced predation, so maybe we will need to find a new location for the apartments.

Box 150

While doing his weekly box checks on July 10, Ben found four wood duck chicks in box 150 and decided to return later with his camera. When he (and his posse) got back, there were five little ducklings in the box. We figured that if we went back after supper, we might be able to watch them leave the nest, but when Ben opened the box, they had all gone, but there was a sixth in the process of pecking its way out of the egg. Bill could hear the mother calling from behind us and Churchy spotted the five ducklings in the reeds across Narraway Pond.

A final check on July 17 revealed that eight eggs had hatched, two did not and two chicks had died.

ODC BLUEBIRD BOXES

(Anthony and Gretchen Denton have been looking after the club’s bluebird boxes for the last several years. Anthony wrote this article for us.)

It has been a few years now since my wife and I took on the responsibility of maintaining the bluebird boxes at Shirley’s Bay. The total number of eastern bluebirds nesting in the boxes has been exactly zero, in spite of the effort which has gone into preparing boxes to meet the specifications and recommendations of successful bluebird societies, however we are encouraged by the fact that these birds do nest nearby, so we are still looking for the factor which is critical in making bluebirds decide where to nest.

The most important requirement is the habitat, the bluebird needing short grass in which to feed on insects. Next requirement is a cavity in which to nest, and this is commonly provided by a nesting box, the dimensions of which are fairly standard.

At ODC the efforts to encourage bluebirds to nest have been rewarded by having large numbers of tree swallows fighting for the boxes, a situation which existed when the author started maintaining the boxes. It seems that tree swallows do not like to nest close to each other, so recommended practice now is to place two boxes close together so that the swallow will take one, leaving the other free for a bluebird. (There has also been one wren nest).

There are now 14 pairs of bluebird boxes which are made to follow a particular specification, while all other boxes have been classed as swallow boxes and are accorded second-class status. Distant boxes were removed, as being too difficult to check, and when boxes decayed or needed repair they were also removed. The bluebird boxes are checked during the nesting season, ideally every week but in practice every second week, and their status recorded. The swallow boxes are cleaned at the end of the season, that’s all.

Times are changing, with the reports of diminishing numbers of swallows everywhere, except ODC. Now we have plans to check the swallow boxes in the nesting season and are repairing and reinstalling old boxes. During the summer bluebird boxes may be put up along the Perimeter Road, where the grass verges are mown regularly.

What is a bluebird box? It is one of a pair of boxes made of one-inch thick unfinished white cedar. One side is hinged at the bottom, with a handle to pull it open and a Robertson screw to secure it. This screw is marked with red paint. (NB. Because of the declining swallow numbers, we are planning to build and install more boxes.)

Update: Tony and Gretchen have been helping Barc Dowden with his bluebird trail on Timm Drive. On June 19nd, they found four small blue/green eggs, in a cup-shaped nest lined with pine needles in one of the boxes. “There were some aspects of the egg colour and the nesting material which made us doubt that this was a bluebird nest, and Gretchen spent a lot of time researching what other bird lays similar eggs. Today we went for a second look, and a female bluebird flew out of the box! She perched on a branch watching us, so we left her alone but will keep an eye on that box.”

When they returned next, there were four newborn chicks in the box.

Updater: Following that good news, Tony, Ben and Tom got together at Tony’s house to build a new supply of 50 bluebird boxes. That should keep us going for some time.

TOM’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES: GALAPAGOS

(When Tom is not at the sanctuary, he’s usually off on some nature adventure. Here’s his account of a trip to the Galapagos last year.)

In February 2008, my wife & I spent eight days on a boat touring the Galapagos Islands. We wanted to see the fabled giant tortoises, the renowned Darwin’s finches and of course the land and conditions which led Darwin to propose his theory of Evolution through Natural Selection. A break from snow and sunshine was a distant thought.

Known originally as the Enchanted Isles, they form an archipelago of about 60 islands and islets all in an area about 100 km by 100 km, located approximately about 1,000 kms west of the Ecuadorian coast. Created through tectonic plate movements, the youngest islands (about 750,000 years old) still have active volcanoes, while the oldest islands (about 10 million years old) have extinct volcanoes and are slowly sinking below the sea. In fact, the entire area is moving at a rate of 10 cms per year towards the Ecuadorian coast (mark your calendars for the collision 100 million years from now, ed.) all islands sit in the crystal clear, blue Pacific Ocean, bathed by at least three separate ocean currents. The islands vary in size, shape, elevation and weather conditions but all are usually hot and dry and composed of volcanic rock and ash––harsh but beautiful. It is not hard to image primitive life crawling from these seas to the still warm lava and struggling to survive millions of years ago.

We flew from the Ecuadorian capital of Quito in the Andes, at 3,300 metres and 18◦C, to the island of Baltra, at sea level and 30◦C, where we were met by Mauricio, our guide, naturalist and representative of GAP Adventures of Toronto. Quite a change but we adjusted quickly with no ill effects.

We were whisked away by bus to our boat, the Pelicano, on which we would travel, eat, sleep, see wildlife, enjoy adventures and make new friends for the next eight days. It was gleaming, white, floating on a blue sea under a sunny, cloudless sky. The warm climate was a welcome change from snow bound Ottawa. We were quickly introduced to the crew of six and 12 other passengers, our cabins and our first cocktail. A great start.

The short trip from the airport to the boat had given us our first inkling of what the Galapagos would be like––sparkling clear blue warm waters surrounding hard, harsh, dry, hot, volcanic islands with little soil and sparse vegetation. We later walked upon these islands and marvelled that creatures from afar had not only managed to survive but evolve and prosper under such difficult conditions––a tribute to the toughness and adaptability of life forms.

The Galapagos were discovered by a storm driven ship in the mid-1500s and have since seen pirates, whalers, settlers, foreign animals and now tourists and a National Park. In general, these events have not been beneficial to the islands nor the creatures living there. Currently, about 25,000 people live on the islands. The Ecuadorian Government is moving to reduce that number to protect the environment and the fauna.

The Islands and villages form a National Park administered by a Parks Board and aided by the Charles Darwin Research Centre in Ayora. Tourism is the main business and non-residents can enter the islands only with registered guides. The cost was $110 US and these fees represented virtually the total revenue of the Park system. Ayora is the main town, a tourist centre on the island of Santa Cruz. It has the normal tourist facilities, but on a small scale, as large scale resorts have not been permitted. The residents have fought successfully so far to keep the tourist developments small.

Our tour focused on the geology of the islands, the marine creatures and plant life, and the efforts of researchers to study the creatures themselves and to protect the environment for their benefit. A typical day started at 06:30 and consisted of three meals on board interspersed by short Zodiac trips to nearby islands for wildlife viewing through hiking or snorkelling.

The boat usually traveled at night, frequently for six or seven hours, so it was a pleasure in the morning to wake and see a new beautiful spot. The exception was one half day in Ayora, visiting the Charles Darwin research centre and buying souvenirs. I estimated we sailed at least 400 kms island hopping, at a speed of 10kms per hour. A few times, conditions were quite rough by this land-lubber’s standard. I have now added seasickness pills to the list of medications essential to maintain life.

We saw or were introduced to the five things for which, in my mind, these inlands are famous, (1) giant tortoises, (2) Darwin’s ground finches, (3) marine iguanas and (4) Charles Darwin and (5) volcanoes. The tortoises, finches and iguanas were fascinating in that they are living proof of evolution which led Darwin to propose his famous theory in the mid-1800s. In Darwin’s time, it was a radical theory, but since then, the advance of science and intense long-term studies of the conditions affecting and changing these creatures has shown that his theory was correct. Today, through DNA analysis, it is known where these creatures originated and hence how they have changed. The 10 different species of giant tortoise evolved from a single, small ancestor in the Andes highlands. The 13 species of finches evolved from a single ancestor from the Ecuadorian mainland. We saw several kinds of volcanoes, with different sizes, shapes, colours, lavas and crater lakes, all harsh and starkly beautiful.

We saw many creatures during our Galapagos voyage. There were hundreds of sea lions and blue-footed boobies, many great and magnificent frigatebirds and their breeding colony, swallow-tailed gulls, red-billed tropicbirds, hundreds of marine and land iguanas, ground finches, sharks, thousand of colourful fish, manta rays, hundreds of golden rays, fur seals, Galapagos hawks, Galapagos penguins, flamingos, pelicans, snakes, lizards, tarantulas, about 10 giant tortoises of the species endemic to the Highlands of Santa Cruz, and last but not least, Lonesome George, the last Galápagos pinta tortoise on the Island of Santiago. (George is said to be over 90 years old and at his sexual peak! He has shown an interest in two females Espanola tortoises and may have fertilized their eggs. Ed.) The most recent addition to the bird life occurred about 10 years ago with the arrival of cattle egrets so the process still continues.

Penguins, pelican and blue-footed booby.

The tour was immensely interesting and well conducted by the Naturalist Leader and the boat’s crew. I bought a DVD which shows the volcanoes and wildlife of the Galapagos as well as a book called “A Natural History of the Galapagos by Michael Jackson, professor at the University of Calgary. Both were interesting and I would be happy to lend them should someone want to enjoy them.

Memberships and donations

At press time, we have 41 members paid up for 2009, including new members—Kim Laroque and Dan Dufour. Welcome to the club Kim and Dan. Hope we can see you at the sanctuary one day soon. By my count that leaves 14 members still outstanding. If you’re in this group, you’ll find a renewal form with this newsletter. Please come back to the fold.

This issue is a little bit late, but it’s not too late to thank Barc Dowden, Dave Martin, Joe Bevk, Bill Bower, Dr. Ron Tasker, Ab McLaren, Pat Crook and Gary Booth for their generous donations last year.

As noted above, Tony and Gretchen have been helping Barc with his bluebird trail on Timm Drive. That’s because Barc has run into some health problems recently. Word is that he is getting better, and that’s great news. We all wish Barc a speedy recovery.

CHURCHY’S COLUMN
Birds vs Windows

Everyone, at some point in life, dreams about how wonderful it would be to fly like a bird. But it’s not all sweetness. There are hazards that await the unsuspecting birds and one of the biggest is windows. The problem is pretty straightforward: birds can’t see windows so they often fly into them and the result is usually fatal. The toll may be as high as 900 million birds a year in the U.S. alone. Surprisingly, head injuries and not broken necks are the most common cause of death.

In the December 2008 edition of Birder’s World, David Allen Sibley looked into the issue and reviewed a number of ideas to reduce the toll windows are taking on birds. He found that most of the suggestions had serious drawbacks: putting decals in the shape of falcons on the windows is ineffective; hanging CDs on a string is ugly; putting up screens outside the windows is labour-intensive and installing windows angled toward the ground is expensive.

So, what can we do? Sibley’s first suggestion is to move bird feeders—they should be either within two feet of windows or more than 30 feet away. If there are more collisions with some particular windows, move feeders away from them. Don’t wash the windows, or soap them to reduce reflections. One experiment he found partially effective was simply drawing grid lines with a yellow highlighter on the inside of the window. Ultraviolet light makes the ink glow, making it more noticeable to the birds. He reports a 75% reduction in collisions, but the lines don’t work on cloudy days and they fade quickly on sunny days. When he tied strands of monofilament fishing line across the outside of the windows, about three inches apart, collisions were eliminated completely, but a reader who tried the same trick said it didn’t work for her.

He believes the best solution is to install exterior screens or netting. You can make your own, or buy from the Bird Screen Company (www.birdscreen.com). For more information on his experiments, check out his blog at http://sibleyguides.blogspot.com.

One idea he doesn’t mention is using ultraviolet coatings on windows. In January the Ottawa Citizen reported on a science project by 13-year-old Charlie Sobcov who applied a UV coating to electrostatic vinyl that sticks to windows. The coating is clear for humans, but looks coloured to birds. There is also a company in the U.S. called Duncraft (www.duncraft.com) that makes decals based on the same principle. If any ODC members try any of these ideas out, we’d like to hear the results.

A new year, of course, means it’s time to renew your membership in the club and maybe make a donation if you are able to. You can specify that your donation be designated for purchase of bird feed, nest box supplies or anything else that advances our conservation work. Tax receipts, as usual, will be issued for membership fees and donations.

There is one point to note about the membership renewals—for the first time in about 20 years, we have raised our membership fees. We’ve also dropped the distinction between members who do some work and those who just support the club. For 2009. there are only two categories of membership: $20 for individual and $25 for family memberships. 

Bird feeders—One of our big projects every winter is keeping our bird feeders along March Valley Road well stocked. For the last few years Anthony and Gretchen Denton had been taking care of one while Tom Irwin has taken over the one George Martin used to handle. This year Tom has agreed to be responsible for both. Thanks Tom for agreeing to do this and thanks to the Dentons for their dedicated efforts over the last few winters. We started up the feeder near Riddell Road early in December and put a new "clothes" line up for the smaller hanging feeders. It is higher and that may prevent destruction by animals.

We have a reasonable supply of seed to get started, but the club would welcome any donations of sunflower seed, peanuts, suet, etc. Nothing lasts very long in our feeders.

Jan 1 – The year got off to a smashing success for the bunch of us that got out on a cold clear New Year’s Day. According to Churchy it was windy too.

The first big surprise when we got there was that our road had been ploughed by the military and there wasn’t nearly as much snow as we had expected. We got the ski-doos up and running, one of the large toboggans repaired, took a load of materials (shavings, ladder, pipe pounder, new nesting boxes, toboggan, etc.) out to our field office for use on days when we want to go out but can’t get in because of shooting, put up the second bird feeder by March Valley Road and filled all the feeders with sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet, and did some other repairs. A number of members figured (wrongly) they could keep warm if they went out and checked wood duck boxes so they walked over and checked a few boxes on the Lilac Pond and Trail Ditch.

At high noon the first annual ODC New Year’s Day Lunch and Bird Watching event took place. It was an unplanned, unexpected and uncommon event. Instead of bringing her vacuum cleaner over to clean up in our sheds, Mary Lou Porter opted to vacuum over at the Skeet Range and invited us to come in out of the cold and get warmed up with some hot coffee. All accepted the offer without hesitation. Nine members ate their lunch and a good portion (all in fact) of the desserts that seemed to appear out of nowhere as the festivities got underway. There was everything from cookies to fruitcake on the menu. After going back outside, those who had been devouring the rum balls noted how quickly the temperature had moderated. 

We then made the usual trip to check out the Innis Point bird feeders. I think everyone recorded at least 15 winter birds to start their 2009 birding list with. Best sightings were wild turkey, rough-legged hawk, ruffed grouse, snow buntings, juncos and common redpoll.  

Jan 3 – Those who stayed home missed a good (cold) day. Seven of us were out, although Mary Lou just dropped by to make sure we had some food to eat for lunch.

Looking back on 2008, the economy may have been in a meltdown. The Senators were racing the Leafs to the bottom (Go Habs Go), but it was a pretty good year for the Ottawa Duck Club. Except for the annual DCRA competition in August, we had access to the sanctuary pretty well every Friday through the summer. And surprisingly, considering how much it rained last summer, we had good weather for most of our outings. That allowed us to make a lot of progress on restoring our sheds.

1. We have been getting in almost every Friday and the weather has been cooperating.
2. The Range Control people have, as usual, been good to us in oh so many ways
3. We have made a lot of progress on major repairs to our sheds (siding, floors, etc.). You will remember that new roofs were put on last summer. The main shed got new siding all around and some repairs to the floor, then a fresh coat of green paint.

The work crew, mainly Ed Lang, Mary Lou, Bill, Austin, Ben, Tony and Gretchen) removed all the old, badly deteriorating chipboard siding and replaced it with new plywood.

5. We received approval from Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources for one grant in 2008 for the construction of new wood duck nesting boxes—enough funds to build 20 or so new boxes to replace old ones. We had enough left over for pipes and predator guards.

6. We were approached by MNR’s Ottawa Stewardship Council in Manotick to build eight wood duck boxes for the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. We were able to provide these by the end of September using some of our own plywood that we had on hand without touching any of the materials obtained through grants. The club received $320 for these boxes.

7. Most members of the ODC know how much George Martin meant to our club and how much the club meant to him. George did a lot of things for us, especially if it involved painting, and he took care of one of our big bird feeders for many years. When George passed away last year, his family wanted to do something for the club in his memory. Bill thought that what we needed most was a trailer to haul our mowers out for service, to haul supplies in for duck boxes and shed repairs, and for a variety of other tasks. Dave Martin and the rest of his family were pleased to oblige.

After looking at various types and manufacturers, we decided on a 5 ft. X 9 ft. steel box, steel frame trailer. The supplier was LeBlanc Welding in Orleans. This trailer became the first vehicle ever registered in the name of the Ottawa Duck Club. It will help us tremendously and we are extremely grateful to the Martin Family.

8. Needless to say, many other projects have been undertaken and completed and those members coming out have all put in a good days work each and every Friday. Besides the shed repairs (which will continue next summer), we had to do a lot of mowing to keep the grass down, complete weekly nest box checks, repair dikes, put out and bring in the floats and many other smaller projects. Thanks to everyone who came out.

9. Our hatch results based on our spring checks were encouraging. Maybe all our hard work on nesting box relocations, clearing brush, installing predator guards, and ridding the boxes of starlings is paying off. No black bears have been around either. 

June 29: The purple martins showed up in the late afternoon. There were five one week ago but we only saw three on Friday. It was nice to have just those three around while we were eating our lunch. There were none at Innis Point and I (Bill) haven't seen any over in the main military compound where they have about a dozen houses up.

We took a drive to Innis Point and noted quite a few eastern bluebirds in the vicinity of the houses put up by the Bird Banders group. Mary-Lou and I saw quite a few anyway and when a pair nearly hit our vehicle Churchy had a chance to see them. Prior to that he thought that the other bird watchers on board were just seeing sparrows.

When I drove back in to Range Control to return the key before leaving I came across a pair of bluebirds right in front of the main HQ building where we hold our meetings in the fall. I stopped and watched them. They were quite active, flying over to the fence and then going to the ground after insects. There is one of those martin houses installed by Public Works a couple of years ago in that immediate area but the bluebirds didn't go there and I'm not sure they would nest in a multi-unit house anyway. I didn't see where they were nesting, if in fact they were. I have never seen bluebirds in this fairly high-traffic area before.

The final step for this year was getting rid of the old eyesore of a trailer piled high with old shingles from last year’s project. That was taken care of on October 3. Maybe the grass will grow back there next year. Mary Lou and Ben also started scraping and repainting the observation deck, unfortunately there are only so many hours in an ODC summer, so they were not able to finish the job. Another one for next year.

On September 13 the club was invited to put up a display at a Ducks Unlimited Canada event at the skeet range. Ben and Mary Lou staffed the display. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to invite DUC members to our side of the butts.

On October 8 eight members got together at the skeet range—many thanks to Mary Lou and Claude Mondor—to cut out parts for 23 new wood duck boxes. Builders were Austin “tool man” Taverner, Bill, Ed, Ron St.Louis, Tom, Ben , Mary Lou and yours truly, Churchy. Several of the builders took the kits home for assembly and painting. Oh yes, Mary Lou also provided coffee and goodies—it pays to participate.

In addition to the Martin family’s donation of a trailer we would also like to acknowledge a donation from Gary Booth and other members of the skeet club in memory of Bob Wood who passed away in August.

It wasn’t all good news in 2008, besides Bob Wood, we also lost two very dedicated members—Rene Gachnang (Rene’s passing was acknowledged in the last issue) and Klaus Gottlob. Klaus had been an active member for a number of years, attended many of our meetings and frequently came out to help on our work days. This past summer he had not been able to come out due to declining health. Klaus really enjoyed the bird life around the sanctuary and taking walks around our trail system. The clean outdoor air sharpened his wit and on many occasions and members struggled to keep up with his repartee. He will be remembered by all those who had the opportunity to meet and work with him. Our condolences have been passed on to Gudrun and the rest of the Gottlob family. And the club has just learned of the passing of Dave Vaughn who’s been a member since 2003.

I thought Duck Club members might be interested in this study by the University of Exeter and Queen’s University Belfast, published last February in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

The study shows for the first time that the extra food we provide garden birds in winter makes for a more successful breeding season in the spring. By providing some birds with extra food, such as peanuts, and leaving others to fend for themselves, the team was able to compare productivity between the two groups. Those that were given extra food laid eggs earlier and, although they produced the same number of chicks, an average of one more per clutch successfully fledged. Although it was well known that garden feeding helps many birds survive the winter, this is the first time that the benefits to spring breeding and productivity have been shown.

Dr. Stuart Bearhop of the University of Exeter, corresponding author on the paper, said: “Our study shows that birds that receive extra food over winter lay their eggs earlier and produce more fledglings. While this research shows how the extra food we provide in winter helps the birds that take it, it is still unclear whether this has a knock-on effect on other species. This is something we are keen to investigate, but in the meantime I will certainly be putting out food for garden birds for the rest of the winter.”

Households in the United States and the Ubnited Kingdom provide over 500,000 tonnes of food for garden birds each year. Despite this, there is a debate on whether we should continue feeding birds in the spring, when natural food sources become more readily available. This research shows, for the first time, that birds will continue to benefit from winter feeding well into the breeding season.

Dr. Dan Chamberlain of the British Trust for Ornithology, a collaborator on the project, adds “These results demonstrate that feeding birds in gardens over winter can be vital to their breeding success. It is highly likely that the benefits of extra food continue year-round, so don’t just stock your bird feeders in winter if you want to do the best for the birds in your garden”.

Now that the research team has shown the long-lasting benefits of supplementary food for garden birds, they are keen to investigate exactly what is happening in terms of nutrition. Dr. Bearhop continued: “The extra food we put out for birds contains fat, protein and carbohydrates, which may make the female bird stronger and more able to produce eggs. Foods like peanuts and bird seed also include vitamins and minerals, which can also produce healthier eggs and chicks, and we currently have a research project looking at the role of energy versus vitamins in explaining these effects.” 

George Martin: While writing about the Martin family donation, I got to thinking about an amusing incident from a few years back that makes it seem particularly appropriate that we have a trailer to remember him by. It seems that George had brought his friend John Thomas out to the sanctuary one winter day to show him around. George got on the snowmobile and John sat on a bag of shavings on the "trailer" as they headed off. Back at the sheds at the end of the tour, George called to Don Davies, who had just arrived, and said, "Don, I’d like you to meet my friend John…”, but when he turned around to introduce John, there was no one there. George retraced his route and found John walking through the snow over near the Dike Pond, none the worse for having been dumped and Don finally got to meet John. Not holding a grudge, John actually joined the club and has been a member for many years.

I am sure many of you have already added an ICE (in case of emergency) number in your cell phone. In case you have not, see the info below. Paramedics are trained to look at the ICE number in your cell phone in case of an emergency where you have lost the ability to communicate. It’s worth doing and getting your loved ones to do it. You can assist emergency services enormously by taking part in the ICE program. The program involves adding an entry to the contact list of your cellphone under the label “ICE”, with the names and phone numbers of those who should be reached in an emergency. If you want to input more than one contact name, simply enter ICE1, ICE2, or add a name to the entry, such as “ICE – Dad” or “ICE – Sarah.”

Speaking of insurance, Ontario Nature has found us a new broker. Our coverage began the first of April with the general liability limit at $5 million.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE

Congratulations are in order to our Webmaster, Ron St. Louis, for all the work he did to create a new Website for the club. The new site, at ottawaduckclub.com went live at the beginning of January.

Ron’s idea was to make the site more user-friendly so that all members can contribute. If you want to post material to the site, first contact Ron to get the password. Then, if you want to add to the news section you can go to the "Write" tab.

If you want to edit pages or news entries you can either navigate the site and click the edit link at the bottom of the page or article (this only works if you’re logged in) or you can go to the "Manage" tab. Choose the article you  want to edit or choose the "pages" sub-tab to edit the pages. Most of it is pretty intuitive. If you run into any difficulties, feel free to contact ron{at}firstgatedreamer[dot]com.

And bear in mind that Ron, Bill and Churchy have the right to review material and edit it. They may also delete it if they feel it is inappropriate. If that happens, you will be contacted with an explanation and possibly given an opportunity to resubmit it. The idea is to make sure we don’t run afowl, sorry, afoul of the law or any of our benefactors.

MEMBERSHIP

Special thanks to all who made generous donations to the club in addition to their membership fees—Joe Bevk & Lori Taverner, Bill Bower, Pat Crook, Pat Davies, Barc Dowden, Richard & Nora Hamilton, David Martin, Dr. Ronald Tasker, and Ron Tomosk.

Sadly, we lost another long-time member when Réné Gachnang passed away peacefully on March 15. Réné was born in Aigle, Switzerland in January 1928 and came to Canada with his wife Esther in the early 1950s. Besides our club, Réné belonged to the Outaouais Wood Carvers and produced some wonderful carvings. The Duck Club treasures a beautiful sign he carved for us that is a key part of our exhibit. The club extends its sympathies to Esther and her family.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

At our AGM on March 18, the club decided it was time, after many years, to change—alright, to increase—membership fees and reduce the number of categories. Starting in 2009, there will only be two categories—individual membership will be $20 and family membership will cost $25. We won’t have the supporting membership category and we won’t be insisting on members doing some work.

GRANTS

There was a slight glitch in the processing of our refunds, but that has been straightened out and the money ($3,750) is now in our bank account. Thanks again to Scott Smithers and company at the Ministry of Natural Resources in Kemptville.

BLUEBIRD SOCIETY CONSERVATION AWARD

This may be the age of instant communications, as we keep hearing, but some news still takes its time to filter out. We first heard rumours last spring that the Duck Club had won an award from the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society, but it wasn’t until we received their fall newsletter that the news was confirmed. This is what they said:

An award is given out each year to an individual or group that has made an outstanding contribution to Eastern Bluebird conservation during the preceding year. The 2006 award was given to the Ottawa Duck Club of Kanata, Ontario. This club has been a long time member of the OEBS and has had a very successful bluebird trail in that area with Jim Sauer, Barc Dowden and Tony and Gretchen Denton doing most of the monitoring.

WINTER BOX CHECKS/SIGHTINGS

Well, the winter of 2007-08 is one we won’t forget any time soon, what with a serious run at the all-time snowfall record. Despite the best efforts of our military hosts to keep our road ploughed, most Sundays it was drifted over and we had to hike into the sheds on snowshoes or skis. And there was so much snow that for most of the winter it was too deep even for the snowmobiles. Those of us who invested in snowshoes got our money’s worth this winter.

On January 13, Tom Irwin reported seeing what he thought was a wolf at the sanctuary. Bill said there are both coyotes and wolves on and around the property. The DND guys have seen as many as four wolves this winter. They (the wolves) sometimes come across on the ice from the Quebec side. They might get a deer or two (older, weak or injured ones) and then return to Quebec before the ice goes.

January 13—We had a couple of interesting sightings on Sunday. The first was the wood duck box on Pond 1that had honey bees in it last spring. We had planned to take it down at that time, but decided to leave it because of the bees. Again, this year we were going to take it down but it still had a bee colony in it. There was lots of bee activity inside and around the entrance hole. We had been told that the bees can’t survive our long winters and so they die off. It appears this colony did survive last winter and are doing well again this year. It shows that our wood duck boxes serve the needs of many species of wildlife.

 

While checking duck boxes on Pond #6 along Riddell Road we found two that had been used by great crested flycatchers. Their nests are always interesting. One nest was unusually large and contained moss, lots of pine needles, deer hair, duck feathers, a couple of feathers from a wild turkey, and lots of snakeskins. The snakeskins are always important evidence of a great crested flycatcher nest but there were also some eggshells from the flycatcher mixed in with everything else.

February 11, Ed, Austin Taverner, Joe Bevk and I headed down to the Inner Creek/South Arm area while Tony and Jim went to the feeders and filled them, including the suet feeders.

There was a lot of water on the ice under the snow and I got the ski-doo stuck at least three times. The water was up to the top of my boots and I got one foot wet. Ed and I finally gave up and snowshoed in taking the shavings, ladder, tools etc. Austin and Joe went along the east side and Ed and I took the west side of the creek.

The fun began when we went to leave. Austin had driven in to the end of the Kindack Pond—that was as far as he could get. The rest of us left our cars out on the road. By quitting time the wind had picked up and the road was filling in fast with blowing snow. Austin had to back all the way out with Joe, Ed and I going along the road in front (back) of him shovelling the snow drifts. Meanwhile, Tony got stuck along the Perimeter Road, which was also narrow and was filling in fast with blowing snow, when he and one of the larger military vehicles met. The military guys used a tow rope that Tony had and helped get him back on the road. All concerned got the heck out and headed home with more snow squalls on the horizon.

March 21—There were wild turkeys at the Innis Point feeder and at the Skeet Range (on their front porch). Not much bird activity at our feeder or at Innis Point. There was a flock of red-winged blackbirds at the Hilda Street feeder and we had a flock of 20 to 30 Canada geese in an open area down along the bay shoreline. We also saw an otter in the Kindack Pond and a dozen or so deer. We saw one live ruffed grouse and a second one that had just been killed by a red-tailed hawk. This grouse had been almost completely plucked and was ready for eating when the hawk took off. It no doubt returned as soon as we left.

March 28 —that was a pretty good day—the morning anyway. We put up box number 4 on pond 6 but with just enough support to hold it. That box will definitely have to be replaced next year. We added straw to the two remaining "mallard" cones we have. The one on the Don Gray pond needs some sort of cover for protection. This cone has been used by a mallard in the past. We also found a couple more dead deer which is not surprising.

In the kestrel box down by the bay we found some kind of a nest. The box was a mess with wet rotten leaves on the bottom (squirrel nest maybe). On top there was dry material including many bird feathers. There wasn’t any "cup". Not a kestrel or a grackle for sure. In amongst the feathers we found some egg shells which we could not identify. They are small but you can see the colour and pattern on them. Turned out it was another great crested flycatcher nest.

April 6—Shooting was going on all day at he range—with machine guns—it was a good place not to go. So we went to Watts Creek. The nesting box installation crew was out bright and early. We put up a new pipe for box W9, installed the new box and then added a new number to box W7. Everything went smoothly and no one got wet. It was a nice morning and we saw a couple of deer, geese, a great blue heron and the wild turkeys were everywhere you looked. Obviously the locals have been feeding them. 

April 11—a good time was had by all. That is if you can forget about the cold weather, driving rain, mud, etc. We accomplished quite a bit in the short time we were there. Even checked some of the duck boxes to expel the unwanted starling eggs. No duck eggs were found. Cleaned up some around the sheds and made our garbage heap even higher. We even had the propane heater going to keep everyone’s hands warm. (Churchy said it was never this cold during the winter).

On May 2 Austin had a very interesting experience. He was removing a mass of starling nest material from a duck box when he felt something soft and warm. On closer inspection it turned out to be a wood duck hen snuggled down under the starling nest, incubating her own eggs. A week later, she was still on her nest with no new starling activity in evidence. 

 
SANCTUARY ACCESS RULES

Usually we can count on having Bill or Austin out at the sanctuary to lead the way, but sometimes they can’t be there. On those days, here are some guidelines Bill sent for the other members who have keys to the sanctuary:

The rules to follow are pretty simple. Check with Range Control on the way in to make sure it’s all clear. If you would like to go to Innis Point, find out if there is anything going on in the Training Area first and sign out a key. You don’t want to be out on the Perimeter Road if there are exercises going on. When you leave, check in again at Range Control and return the key if you borrowed it. If you have a cell phone you can leave the number at Range Control so they can then get in touch with you if necessary. Every member with a cell phone should be on our list of cell phone holders. The Range Control number is also on that list. Check with Ben Mancini if you don’t have a list or want to be added. Take your ODC identification plaque with you to display in your vehicle (if you don’t have one speak to Ben). If the RED FLAG is flying on the butts DO NOT GO IN. Check again with Range Control. It may be that someone or some group checked out of the range but neglected to lower the flag. Range Control can take care of that and give you the all clear.

We ask members to advise Bill and Austin who was out and (briefly) what was accomplished. This is especially important if you are checking the wood duck boxes. We need to know which boxes were checked, what was observed (number of duck eggs of each species, hen on nest, chicks in box, predation, etc.) and what action was taken (starlings’ eggs removed, shavings added, box repaired, etc.) You have all seen our annual reports so you know the info we would like to have. Pass on your notes to Austin. Most of you have been through the exercise already—there are three groupings of boxes to make the checks easier to do. (We check a total of 61 boxes and try to do so every week.) As far as the other work is concerned we don’t need much detail. This information just helps complete our reporting forms that go to MNR in relation to our grants. It also helps Austin keep his TO-DO list up-to-date. Finally, if you’re the last member out there, don’t forget to put up the chain gate along our road when you leave.

If you have any questions check with Bill. It’s becoming more important to try to have more members willing and able to go out on a day other than just the Friday. There is plenty to do for sure, but this certainly doesn’t mean you can’t also take a walk around, do some bird watching, photography, or other nature-related activities.

If there are no red flags or bullets flying, the only other thing to watch out for is poison ivy. As Bill can attest, the sanctuary has a healthy crop of it growing in several places, including a patch near the sheds. Remember the old rhyme, “leaves of three, let them be.” 

According to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, poison-ivy is a woody perennial that may grow as dwarf, shrubby plants only a few centimetres high and carpeting the ground, as upright plants 60-90 cm (2-3 ft) high, or the vine-like form may twine around trees, shrubs and posts, and reach a considerable distance above the ground. These vines often develop root-like structures which act as attachments, but apparently do not damage the living plants to which they cling.

 

Poison ivy contains a chemical, urushiol, that can cause a red, itchy rash and even blisters in the skin of persons sensitive to it. Urushiol is present in all parts of the plant, but particularly in the sap. People vary in their sensitivity to urushiol. Some have no problem with it and others experience severe allergic reactions. This can also vary over the life of a person. You might be unaffected as a child and become sensitized with repeated exposures. So even if you are not allergic now, it is a good idea to learn how to recognize poison ivy in case your body changes with age.

The skin irritation caused by poison ivy is Rhus Dermatitis. It usually starts as itching and small blisters within a few hours after exposure. Depending on how strong the exposure was and/or how sensitive the person is, that may be all there is to it. However, it may develop into an inflamed, swollen rash with open, weeping, sores that persists for up to two weeks. Severe cases may require a visit to the doctor. Urushiol is absorbed into the skin within three minutes of exposure. If it is washed off quickly with dishwashing soap and water, the consequences will be less, but you are seldom close to a washroom when you get exposed, so learning to recognize and avoid it is the best strategy. An important fact to remember is that the urushiol can travel on your clothes or the fur of your pets, so remember to wash them too if you suspect they were in contact with poison ivy. 

CHURCHY’S COLUMN

If you haven’t made it out to the sanctuary recently, you’ve been missing a lot of activity. The Canada geese have been nesting for weeks and their goslings have now shown up. Same story for great blue herons, wood ducks, hooded mergansers and tree swallows. A single purple martin was seen checking out accommodations a few weeks ago, but he doesn’t seem to have been able to convince his flock to follow, though another was there in mid June. Other interesting sightings are common terns, green-backed herons, bitterns and common moorhens.

In the last issue we had a report from Austin on our hatch results for 2007. What we neglected to mention is that those results only covered the boxes we check in the summer. The final results for 2007 show that the wood duck hatch was very similar to 2006, while the hooded merganser hatch more than doubled. Overall the percentage of eggs hatched in 2007 was good. 

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Well, here we are. The new site location is in full effect. The old site is still up and running for a while with a redirect to the new location here at www.ottawaduckclub.com. Much as the same way as you would redirect your regular mail there is actually a usual process and/or etiquette. Read the rest of this entry »

As promised I’m hoping to get this site upgrade fully functional by the New Year. All that is left is to upload the older NestBox letters and a few aesthetic changes. Any comments on the layout and new format are welcome and appreciated. You can contact me with your questions and suggestions even use the comment form on this site.

I’m hoping members can become more active about posting news on the ODC homepage. Perhaps this page can be used to recap recent outings and show off our lists of accomplishments? It could be especially interesting to highlight wildlife sightings and encounters. For photos, the Flickr photo Gallery is still up and running but members can post their images from around the sanctuary just as easily right here now with this new system.

Cheers
r.